Tag Archives: Islam

First and foremost – This post is a reminder to myself first before anyone else.

Secondly – I apologise for the fact I haven’t written a post in about 4/5 months – life kind of just happened I guess. What I will say however is that I did try to get something up in this time inbetween – I currently have 4 half written posts sitting in my drafts. All on various different topics which for some reason I just haven’t found the words to finish as yet. Maybe one day they will get published, keep an eye out.

Sabr & Shukr.

Non-Muslim/non-Arabic speaking people reading my blog will probably be asking what these two words mean.

Patience & Gratitude/Gratefulness.

I’ll be honest – these 2 things are things which we are severely lacking in society nowadays. And please remember I speak of myself here before anyone else, so don’t take it the wrong way. But it is true. We live in such a fast paced world things are constantly changing and developing as we blink I think we forget sometimes where it comes from/who its given by. God.

Indication as to how badly I procrastinate: Today I turned my laptop on just after 1pm with the intention to start today’s post and get it up hours and hours before iftaar. Did that happen I hear you ask? No. If you’re from the UK, you’d already know that, however I know there’s a few of you from around the globe reading my blog (Say Hi in the comments below – I don’t bite 😉 ) and you guys wouldn’t know that, but yeah, its currently after iftaar.. Quite a while after iftaar actually. 😛

So as I mentioned in last weeks post, my favourite radio show on MCR is Easy Talk. And yesterday evening, as per my usual weekend routine, I was sat listening to the radio show minding my own business. Now yesterdays topic of discussion was the current situation in Egypt, and what Muslims here in the UK think about. The debate was good a varied, but as with all discussions, stupidity surfaces. I think two brothers phoned in to give their opinions on the matter. Their opinion? That the people of Egypt deserve what was happening to them because it was their own fault for trying to bring democracy into the Islamic world, that Islam and democracy do not not mix. Now I’m pretty sure all of my readers reading this right now will be in agreement with me, that such a argument is positively ludicrous!

Maybe its because I’m and International Relations student, I don’t know, but when people make broad, uneducated remarks about things like democracy and power – it bugs me. So I decided to make my point and tweeted into the show saying:

Little did I know, this tweet would spark off the beginning of a longgggg night of twitter wars…..

Now twitter is a place to express yourself, your views and feelings on certain issues, have a debate or two, that’s all well and good. But when the opposition of your debate is a EDL troll, things can get quite tedious and frustrating.

Again, if you’re in the UK, you’ll most likely have heard of who the EDL are, but for my global readers: basically the EDL is a racist group of thugs who hate Muslims and want us out of Britain. The wikipedia definition of the EDL: The English Defence League (EDL) is a far-right street protest movement which opposes what it considers to be a spread of Islamism, Sharia law and Islamic extremism in the United Kingdom.

Getting back to my point, so there I was minding my own business, tweeting my thoughts, when BOOM all of a sudden I start getting an onslaught of tweets from these EDL trolls going on about how if Muslims knew what democracy was we wouldn’t be in the situation we are currently in. (This is me putting their words nicely by the way, the language used by these idiots is vile) So of course I’m going to defend my religion, and I did. And I know sometimes when in a twitter war, you feel the need the fight fire with fire, but even though these individuals were downright offensive, I’m proud to say I didn’t stoop to their level, not once was I rude or swear at them. (I actually hate swearing – on the extremely rare occasion a curse word slips out, my friends say it sounds really weird lol) Instead I tried to educate them, although I doubt I got very far unfortunately.

The arguments ranged from the Qur’aan having flaws (however when I asked them to point out some ‘flaws’ they were unable to produce any) to Female Genital Mutilation. I’m not going to go in depth into the arguments though, coz honestly I’d be here all night if I did. But one thing that stood out was the fact that these peopledon’t seem to understand the difference between Religion and Culture.

What I don’t understand is why matters such as if a rape gang become known, why if the perpetrators happen to be ‘Muslim’ why these EDL trolls feel its such a big point against Muslims. If a non-Muslim rape gang is exposed in the media, you’ll never hear a peep about it from these idiots. However, the minute the word ‘Muslim’ is used, its an issue. As though the severity of the rape is dependent on what religion the person committing the crime has! Its absolutely barbaric. I honestly cannot fathom what goes on in these peoples minds. I just wish they would pick up a book and bloody read it (almost all the trolls from yesterday claimed to have read the Qur’aan – biggest load of sheiz I’ve heard in a long time I tell you that) instead of getting their ideas from bias media and their own bloody ignorance.

In the end I got fed up of talking to brick walls, so I said my last bits and blocked them all. Not that it helped, as when I woke up I woke to another load of them! Honestly I’ve tried getting through to them on more then one occasion, to no avail. Not going to bother anymore. If anyone has any advice on how to deal with trolls like those mentioned, it would be greatly appreciated 🙂

I think the only way I can start today’s post really is by mentioning two things. How excruciatingly hot it is London, and the royal baby! Now okay, everyone has been enjoying the lovely weather so far I’m sure, but 34/35℃?! Its getting too much for my liking now.. I didn’t even leave my house today until just before iftaar (to give some food to a friends house) and yet I felt the heat was literally unbearable. Anyway, moving on to the second big news of the day – the royal baby has been born! 😀 Yayy!! Okay, celebration over now, can we stop talking about it? I don’t hate the royal family, nor do I love them to bits. In my opinion, okay the babies been born, seems the mother and baby are happy and healthy, lets leave it at that and move on with our lives now?

However, we all know thats not going to happen. I do wonder how long the media will stretch this story out for. The way the press went on about Kate’s pregnancy, I honestly thought she’d been pregnant for a good 2 years! ¬¬ I think its horrible that Harry is no longer 3rd in line to the throne anymore though 😦 To be honest I think the Queen, Prince Charles, Prince William – and now his son too – should all abdicate and give the throne to Harry! 😀 I think he’d be a good king, he seems to have charisma, likened to his mother Diana, whereas William seems to be more like Prince Charles.. One last point about the royal baby – I think they should name him Mohammed! 😀 It is the most common boys name in world after all…

Anyway, I have to admit nothing much was accomplished today other then a lot of household cleaning, as we had guests coming round for iftaar. And let me tell you, pulling up a dyson up three flights of stairs is hard work when fasting, especially in this heat. The past two weeks I had found having a cool shower in the middle of the day helped, but today not two minutes after stepping out the shower, it felt as though I hadn’t had one to begin with! However, the weatherman said the storms were brewing, and indeed I just heard a roll of thunder as I type this..

Now asians are known for their big feasts at sorts of different occasions, Ramadan is no different. One tradition we seem to hold is that once a girl is married, her family are to take food over to her in-laws in order for them to have iftaar with. Now this is all well and good, Ramadan is after all, about the coming together of families at the end of the day to enjoy iftaar together and so forth. But when people/families start to put such weight on this act, such high expectations, almost to the point where if this act is not done to a certain standard is not acceptable – this is taking it too far.

If you know me personally, you’ll know that my oldest brother and sister in-law live with me. And so, today was the day her family brought food over for iftaar. Alhamdulillah, my family like tradition as much as the next person, but we don’t tend to put such extreme weights on traditional matters. We’re not the type to hold a grudge against my sister in-laws family if they didn’t bring enough samosas for example, lol. (They did by the way, don’t worry :P) However, I do know some people that do hold such extreme views on certain traditions being carried out exactly the way they’re supposed to.

Now in my opinion, I really don’t see what the big deal is. You invite people around to enjoy iftaar at your house, they come, bring some food, we all break out fast together and have a lovely meal. Does it really matter if there wasn’t enough samosas to go round? Share if you have to! Indeed, there’s more blessing in your food if your share with others. That was what I was running out doing just before iftaar in fact, giving small parcels of food to our local muslim family friends to enjoy 🙂

The point I’m trying to make is, yes its nice to practice certain traditions from different cultures, its part of who we are. But the fact is, tradition and culture shouldn’t over rule religion. And more importantly, culture shouldn’t be confused and given the importance of religion. The two just cannot compare.

Alhamdulillah, todays iftaar was a joyous one in my house, and I hope wherever you are, yours was/is too 🙂

First and foremost, I’m sorry for not posting yesterday, I wasn’t feeling my best. I guess you could say I just can’t handle heat lol. This Ramadan is kind of reminding me of Ramadan 2 years ago where I spent half of it working with a charity in South Africa, in regards to the heat and such. Btw – do let me know if anyone would be interested in reading a post of my travels in South Africa! 😀

So I had my first day at work today.. Now if you know me personally, I have literally been looking for a job since Summer began, to no avail. Until this one popped up. And to be honest, in my opinion its not even a proper job, I’m just doing some admin/secretarial work for a local charity. But hey, I have nothing better to do with my time and I need the experience, so I’ll take what I can get! I won’t go into how it went, because I don’t want to bore you all, and I’m worried who might read this! 😛

So as you know, the month of Ramadan is split into thirds. The first 10 days are the days of Mercy from Allah, the second third are the days of Forgiveness from Allah, and the last third are the days of Salvation from the Hellfire. I was recently sent a cute story to explain the division of the month in thirds, which I thought I’d share with you all 🙂

Explaining the three parts of Ramadan:

“Abdullah is a mischievous boy who broke a window in his house. His parents punish him by sending him to his room for a week.. He is not known for being tidy and his room is always a mess. For some reason, to please his mother, whilst waiting in his room after his punishment, he tidies up all his toys and his bed and waits quietly in his room (usually he is rowdy). His mother turns up and he gives her a big hug. She looks at the room and is in shock a little. She can’t believe that he has tidied up. She was about to punish him further, but now she feels MERCY for him. Her anger is gone as he has been soo good. Abdullah tries harder and says to his mother ‘Can I help you with any work around the house’. She again is taken back by this and this time her heart FORGIVES Abdullah for what he has done. She feels no anger towards him. After he has helped her round the house, she looks at Abdullah and tells him ‘you don’t need to stay in your room for the next week’. She DELIVERS him from his punishment. He continues to help his mother set out food for lunch. She is now soo happy with him she takes him out to the shops to buy him whatever he wants.”

This is an analogy of the three parts of Ramadan. Allah is upset with us for all our sins in the 11 months prior, but when we turn to him in the first ten days, he is MERCIFUL to us. When we continue to turn to him and get closer to him, in the second ten days, he FORGIVES us of all of our sins. We continue to get closer to him, so in the last ten days he DELIVERS us from HELL. We continue to get closer and we achieve closeness on the big night (this night being the equivalent of praying for 83 years) then he gives us the gift of JANNAH on Eid day. That is why we celebrate. I hope Allah shows us the way. Ameen

So here in London, we completed our 6th fast of Ramadan. Subhan’Allah, the days are so long and the nights so short, and yet it still seems like the days are flying.

On the 6th Ramadan 1426 (10th October 2005) my beloved nani (maternal grandmother) passed away. I was 12 at the time, just started year 8. That day is forever ingrained in my memory. And I suppose with today being the 6th of Ramadan, it kind of stuck out to me more. I don’t actually know where I’m going with this, so just bare with me.

As I’m sure you know, the first 10 days of Ramadan are the days of mercy from Allah. I always ask Allah to have mercy upon my nani.

How many people that you know were here last Ramadan, but haven’t made it to this year? For me, my granddad, and two great aunts passed. They didn’t know they were going to go when they did, indeed none of us do. Only Allah.

So what are we doing with our time? Are we using it wisely? Indeed its not on our side, as we don’t know when its going to run out! This point alone should make us determined to take advantage of every moment we get, especially now we are in the month of Ramadan where good deeds are multiplied.

We focus so much on worldly goods, getting good jobs and earning lots of money. But if you think about it, when you die, do you take any of that with you? No. So why focus so much on your bank account balance, when really you should be focusing on your good deed balance. Because thats the only one that will help you in the hereafter.

Indeed this life is merely a journey and the final destination is the hereafter.

Today has been a strange day on so many levels. I’m sorry if that has come out in my writing. I ask you all to forgive me please, InSha’Allah tomorrows post shall be more structured.

So Alhamdulillah compared to yesterday, today was a better day for me, I actually managed to stand up straight and do stuff! Now since Ramadan started last Wednesday, I’ve literally been a vampire. i.e. I haven’t been out of the house at all in daylight – apart from the garden.
But todays the day that changed, for my mother decided she wanted to go Green St. Now if you’re not from London you wouldn’t know this, but basically if you want asian clothes/food/anything asian – you go to Green street. Our general aim for going Green street in the blistering heat was to get food for iftaar and such. One item which my family enjoy a lot in Ramadan and generally is mangoes. Now I know you probably don’t care about this, but the price of mangoes nowadays is actually ridiculous! I mean, I remember the days when you’d walk down market stalls and hear men shouting ‘2 box honey mango £5!!’ Nowadays? My mum bought 2 boxes for £14. Daylight robbery I tell you. Oh and as we’re walking back to the car with my hands full of bags, a bug tries to fly into my mouth! Like are you trying to make me break my fast little bug?! ¬¬ Anyway, enough about mangoes and bugs.

As I scrolled down my facebook timeline this morning – btw is it just me who has all these ‘suggested posts’ related to food all down their timeline? – and I saw a link to a youtube video about sisters who revert to Islam, and it being our duty to help and welcome them to Islam.

Now during my first year of sixth form (high school for the Americans reading this) one of my friends for secondary reached out to me saying she had reverted to Islam! Now whilst we were in school I knew she had muslim friends and such but I never would have thought she would revert. Now like to sister in the video above, she faced a lot of backlash from her parents and such. And I, along with some of my friends tried to help her out as much as possible, which was great for a while. And to be honest, I don’t know what happened, but things changed and we lost contact with her. And before you think I’m a horrible person for abandoning my friend, I have tried contacting her to see how she is and such, but I haven’t gotten anything back. And for a while I just felt lost as to what to do.
And I suppose after watching that video it made me think, maybe I could have done more to help somehow.

Now through twitter and other forms of social media I have met so many reverts to Islam, and hearing the stories of their journey to how they found Islam honestly warms my heart so much<3 🙂
Basically what I’m trying to say is wherever/however you can, help our revert brothers and sisters out their, coz they need us. They weren’t born into Muslim families like us to have that support when it comes to Islam. We do, so we must become their family for them. We are one Ummmah after all.

Before I leave you today I just wanted to mention that my baby brother managed to keep his fast today Alhamdulillah 🙂 Please make dua that InSha’Allah he can keep many more 🙂

Subhan’Allah – day 3 completed!And the first Friday of Ramadan so – Jummah Mubarak (heres to hoping its still Friday where you are by the time you read this :P)

As I laid in bed after praying Fajr this morning, I found it difficult to get to sleep, as I was not comfortable. Be it because my tummy was too full of food from suhoor, or because my bed was uncomfortable, looking back, these are both luxuries we take for granted.

While we eat delicious food prepared by our mothers, and sleep in freshly made beds, spare a thought for our brothers and sisters across the world who do not have such luxuries.

Scholars in Syria have issued a Fatwa declaring that eating cat meat is halal, as people there are on the verge of starvation. This just shows how dire the situation in Syria is right now. So when you’re waiting for Maghrib to fall so you can eat your iftaar, make dua for the people of Syria, and indeed our oppressed brothers and sisters in Palestine, Burma, Egypt, Bangladesh etc.

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2248 Narrated by Abu Hurayrah

Allah’s Messenger (saws) said, “There are three whose (lawful) supplication are not rejected: one who has just ended a fast, a just imam, and one who has been wronged, whose supplication is raised by Allah above the clouds and for which the gates of Heaven are opened. The Lord says, ‘I swear by My might that I shall certainly help you, though it be after some time.’”

Subhan’Allah, here you see the Rahma of Allah. That short amount of time just before Iftaar, is the most precious. Any dua made during that time, Allah will grant, InSha’Allah. So please, think of the oppressed at that moment and make dua for them.

As today is the virtious day of Friday (not for much longer in the UK) I also wanted to mention Surah al-Kahf. For The Prophet (SAW) said: “The person who recites Surah Kahf on Fridays, a Nur will appear for him from below the arsh as high as the skies. This light will help him in the darkness of the day of resurrection. And all sins which he may have committed from the last Friday till this will be forgiven.” (Sharh Sifrus-Sa’aadah)

Sooo day two! Where to begin?? After posting my first post yesterday, I asked my friends what they thought, and what topics I should touch upon.
A revert friend of mine mentioned a couple of topics which I thought were good, so I shall be talking about them in the next couple of days InSha’Allah.

I don’t know about you all, but one thing I have found about this Ramadan is the fact that there is hardly any night. In the UK iftaar is at roughly 21:20 and by the time you’ve finished eating and praying Maghrib, its almost 22:00! Then you have barely an hours rest before Esha azaan starts at 23:00.

After praying taraweeh I have found that instead of attempting sleep, I’d rather stay up and read some Qur’aan/ do Dhikr etc until suhoor time. After praying Fajr, then sleeping. Is anyone else the same, and if not, what is your night time routine during Ramadan?

The East London Mosque is situated near where I live, and for the past 12 years, every Ramadan they get a radio license for one month to produce the ‘Muslim Community Radio’. Different shows air on MCR, from Womens Hour to the Iftaar Show, all offering a range of things from topical discussions to fiqh. May Allah bless the people involved with the running of MCR, because truly Ramadan would be different in my household without it. Don’t dispare if you’re not from London! You can listen to MCR online here from anywhere in the world – just be wary of time difference 😛

Getting back to the point of me mentioning MCR – today I came into the kitchen half way through the ‘Iftaar Show’ and as I was helping get things ready for iftaar, I heard that the topic of discussion was parents.

I am not sure if a caller called in asking, or if it was a story the presenter mentioned, but he said of how a man came to a sheikh (again, I’m not completely sure here, bare with me) and asked how he could repay his mother for all that she had done for him throughout his life. The sheikh replied that he could do as much as he could possible for his parents but whatever he did, would not cover the pain of even one contraction his mother felt when she gave birth to him. Subhan’Allah! You can do everything and anything for your parents, and it will still not be enough to repay them. And indeed we should not feel the need to think we can repay them for what they have done for us. Because the what they have given us is unrepayable.

The presenter mentioned another story, this one so heartbreaking it brought me almost to tears.

In a village in Bangladesh there was a Man who was an alcoholic (nauzubillah). And when he was drunk he would beat his mother senseless. One day passers by saw what the man was doing to his mother and called the police on him. The police arrive and when they go to arrest the man, his mother calls out ‘no! Don’t take him, he is my son’ Ya’Allah, even though he beat her black and blue, she still loved him, for he was her son. A parents love for their child is unconditional. So why is it so easy for us in this day and age to forget about our parents?

A dua for our parents that we should always recite:

“Rabbir ham huma kama rabba-yanee sagheera.”

17:24″Lord be merciful to them for they have brought me up in my childhood.”

No matter how bad a parent, no matter what they have done, at the end of the day, they are still your parents, and it is your responsibility to care for them and do everything in your power for them. Because they deserve it, it is their right.

I’ve never tried my hand at blogging before, though I’ve always been interested in it. And after seeing my good friend Fatima blog through Ramadan the past two years, (click here to check it out and send her some love!) I thought ‘I wanna try that!’ So here I am 🙂 I don’t know how well this is gonna turn out hence why I’m currently posting straight onto my tumblr instead of making anactual blog. Small steps…

Anyway! The first day is done and dusted, and Alhamdulillah, it went well 🙂 I don’t know what the weathers like where you are, but here in London, its been uncharacteristically hot! I, along with many other people I’m sure, thought the heat would make fasting difficult. And I know, its only been the first day so I don’t have much to go on – but hey, everyone always says the first day is the hardest right? And if you get through the first day InSha’Allah the rest will be easyish.

So the fast began at roughly 2:30am with Suhoor/Sehri/whatever you wanna call the morning meal. I’m intrigued to know what you all eat for this meal – so let me know!

I became a true bengali today, and had rice with mango & cream – yum yum yum! Now before you say anything – try it before you knock it! Trust me, its amazing. 🙂

For the first time on UK terrestrial tv, channel 4 will be broadcasting the Fajr azaan every morning on tv, with the other 4 on their website. I was interested to see how it would look, so sat and watched it with my brother and mother. You can watch it here and decide what you think of it. Although I will make the point that I’d prefer it if they maybe had the meaning running underneath, so if any non-muslims happened to watch at 3am, they would at least get an idea of what was said.

I woke up really late today, something I’m not very proud to admit – at 11:30 But rest assured – this was a one off, as I found it difficult to fall asleep after fajr.

Now, for the past couple of years I’ve either had college/work/something happening during ramadan, and so I have not had the complete freedom from other things to focus wholly upon this month and gaining what I can from it. This year however, I only have work 2 days a week, so I can focus a lot more on gaining as much as I possibly can.

One thing I intend to delve in to a lot more is the meaning of surahs in the Qur’aan. I haven’t set myself a target as to how much I want to cover, just as much as possible really.

Iftaar time – what did you guys eat? Same as suhoor/sehri I’m intrigued to know what you all eat – so let me know!

One thing came to my mind today whilst the azaan was going and we were breaking our fast – ‘what about the muezzin? ’ This is the name given to the person to does the call to prayer. He has to wait until he finishes calling the azaan before he can break his fast. But I suppose its just the way its gotta be. Fun Fact: My middle brothers name is actually Moazeem (spelt differently but meant to be Muezzin) and my younger brothers name is Bilal – also known as the name of the first ever Muezzin! How fitting 🙂

Anyway, if you managed to stick til the end and read all this rambling – thanks! Let me know if theres anything you want me to talk about etc, I’m open for suggestions 🙂

Oh and I don’t know who is gonna read this, so if you’re not a muslim and need some clarification on any terminolgy, just let me know 🙂